What Happens in Punk Hazard
by marimoonigiri
Summary: Fact 1: a marine and a pirate are not supposed to think about each other. Fact 2: Roronoa Zoro can't get a certain marine out of his head. Conclusion: Roronoa Zoro thinks about said marine much more than he should. T for language only.
1. What Happens in Punk Hazard

**One Piece does not belong to me! *cough* wish it did *cough* It belongs to the one and only, amazing Oda sensei. Besides a few add-ins to the original plot, nothing is mine. Hope you enjoy, and if you can, tell me if you want more! I appreciate your opinions, and thanks for reading!**

 **(And I'll be honest, this is my first published work so I don't really know what I'm doing)**

 **(I hope you like it though)**

 **(*awkward laugh*)**

* * *

 _Biscuits Room, Punk Hazard_

"OI!" Zoro shouted in surprise. He found himself running to the female marine and kneeling beside her. Her face looked worn out, and it was inevitable that the wound on her shoulder would leave a horrible scar. He huffed, his eye on the unconscious woman. What an idiot. But he couldn't help but admire the fight she had fought before losing. It was smart not to let go of the harpy, although it would look like a stupid move to many. He lifted the marine up deftly and moved her to the wall, and positioned her so that she was in a sitting position. Zoro moved to find a cloth to bandage her wound quickly. He didn't have any, so he searched her jacket pockets until he found a white handkerchief. He wrapped it around her shoulder hastily, and sighed out of a frustration when he was done. Where's Chopper when you need him? He thought. He figured that it would be smart to take her to her medical unit or to chopper quickly. The cloth would only last so long. She needed proper treatment. After glancing at her once more, he began to pick her up again, when he heard something that made him stop. He turned his head to the door that was blocked earlier. He inched away slightly in surprise when he saw the purple gas beginning to enter the room.  
He wanted to yell out of frustration. Why was that poisonous gas always following him?! He felt as if he would never get a break. Zoro lifted the marine, slung her over his shoulder, and began to run for what felt like the hundredth time that day. He needed some sake. All this running was starting to annoy him. But of course, he couldn't do anything about it. Especially with a female marine on his shoulder. She hadn't woken up yet, thankfully. Blood was already starting to spot the cloth he had wrapped around her shoulder. He watched her as she dangled from his shoulder, unconscious. Her glasses were holding onto her hair as if their life depended on it. However, they slipped, and began to fall to the ground. Zoro stopped and swung around as fast as lightning, catching the glasses just in time. He sighed in relief. He wasn't going to break her glasses yet again. The day that they met flashed in his brain as he continued to run. Meeting her had been quite eventful. Thanks to her, he had gotten one of his cherished katanas. He still couldn't believe that she had dragged him into a marine base, thinking he was a married man. When had her kind words to him changed to harsh challenges to duel? Obviously when she realized that he was an infamous pirate. He didn't think she'd speak to him so kindly ever again, now that they were enemies. He finally shook himself out of his trance. Zoro placed Tashigi's glasses on her head and then looked up, greeted by the wall of gas becoming ever so close to him. He cursed quietly and began to run even faster. Tashigi stirred on his back, and opened her eyes. As she began to assess the situation, she began to panic and squirm uncontrollably, yelling at him to let her down. Zoro began to chastise her for moving, clearly irked. Watching the two would've been quite the sight, as both of them were yelling at each other, with one on the other's shoulder. However, Zoro was a bit thankful that she was there. Having a guide was helpful to his horrible sense of direction, although he would never admit that to anyone else.

 _Later, during the party_

Zoro paused his drinking, and looked around at the groups of marines, children, and pirates. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the female marine he had been carrying earlier. She was busy helping others, keeping track of the children, and feeding her subordinates. She acted like she was completely fine, but Zoro knew that she was struggling. Her wound hadn't stopped bleeding yet, and it was steadily soaking the white cloth used to stop the bleeding earlier. No one seemed to notice, in the confusion that was happening. Also, she was tightly covering the cloth with her hand, but talking happily to her subordinates nonetheless. Soon, the cloth would be useless and completely covered in the dark red liquid. Zoro sighed. He was going crazy, he was sure of it. Why should he care about a marine? Still, he stood up and pushed through the crowd towards Tashigi. He watched as she sat down on a crate, and read over her notes once more. Zoro finally reached her, and he sat down next to her on a separate crate silently. A few minutes passed and Tashigi still hadn't noticed him. Her subordinates had, however, and they began to whisper and point behind her. Finally, Tashigi looked behind her. She shrieked in surprise, dropping the clipboard she held in her hand. Zoro huffed. _About time she noticed I was here._  
"Oi, copycat. Haven't you even realized that your shoulder is still bleeding?" He asked, turning to her. Tashigi's eyes shifted to her shoulder, and she gasped in surprise after lifting her hand. Blood covered the white cloth, and it would soon deep into her gloved hand. Her men became quiet in shock. Zoro rolled his eyes. Oblivious bastards. They all started to flood towards her with worried shouts, when Zoro gave them a look that stopped them all in their tracks. He turned back to her shoulder. Zoro removed her hand from her shoulder, and deftly unraveled the bloody white cloth. Afterwards, after looking around himself, he removed the bandana that was tied on his arm and began to wrap it around her wound tightly. Tashigi flinched, but let him bandage her wound. She looked at him through her glasses. For the first time, she was able to really study the scar on his left eye. She wondered how he got it. It certainly wasn't there two years ago. Tashigi flashed back to what had happened back in the biscuits room. Her mouth went dry with an unidentifiable emotion when she remembered his hand on his shoulder, saying "Good job" to her. She could never have imagined that a pirate would compliment her. Was it even a compliment? It could have easily been mockery. But still. Roronoa Zoro sure was making her experience things that any other pirate wouldn't. She wanted to ask him multiple things. She still couldn't understand what it was about the man that made her so curious. But that was what was different about the Straw Hat Crew. She could name many pirates who wouldn't bother to save her. Tashigi finally snapped out of her daze, realizing that she was staring. For a brief moment, Zoro lifted his gaze and glanced at her with a piercing expression, causing Tashigi to flinch and shift her stare to her shoulder. When he finished, he stood up, and walked away without looking back. The bloody white cloth dangled from the handle of one of his katanas, right in front of his forearm, which rested on the handle as well. Her subordinates all followed him with their eyes, in complete shock. Their mouths were hanging open as they shifted their vision back and forth between Tashigi and Zoro over and over again. Murmurs began to explode in the crowd of marines. Tashigi bent down to pick up the clipboard. She sat up again, glanced at her shoulder, and locked her gaze in the direction he had walked off in, more puzzled than she had ever been in her life.


	2. Three Katanas and One Head of Green Hair

_Three days after escape from Punk Hazard_

Tashigi walked through the long corridor of her ship. She was carrying a large stack of papers to her office, in hopes of getting some work done before they reached the next island. She passed her subordinates tending to the children and smiled. Once she reached her office, she dropped the papers onto her desk with a large thud, huffing while she did so. She turned around, and was about to go out and get her other stack of papers, when she slipped on something that was on the ground, letting out a high pitched cry. Tashigi rubbed her behind while standing up, and looked down at her feet to see what had caused her to fall. She picked up the black cloth that was stained with dried blood and gasped. Roronoa Zoro's face swam through her brain as she remembered what he had done for her when her arm was bleeding due to Monet. She hadn't returned it!

She groaned. Would he mind if she didn't return it? It wasn't like they bumped into each other every day. It would take years to find them again. But no. He would. If she was remembering correctly, he had had it two years ago at Alabasta and when they first met, too. She had never seen him without it. Which probably meant that it was special. She recalled seeing him put it on his head before he fought. She bit her lip with a new kind of guilt. Tashigi looked down at the cloth. The bandanna was so normal. It was a simple piece of cloth. But she had a strong feeling that it had a deep meaning to it that was unknown to most. She felt horrible. Although she doubted he couldn't fight without it, she began to fear for its absence. What a mysterious aura for a simple bandanna, she thought. She gripped it tighter. She would have to return it. She felt as if she wouldn't be able to live with seeing it lying around on her desk every day. She didn't need a reminder of her debt to him. Or him himself. Tashigi whirled around and walked out of her office and back onto the deck, gripping the bandanna tightly. She looked out onto the deep blue ocean. How would she ever find him? It was surprising that she had already bumped into the crew three times now. Tashigi squinted. Was that an island? Off in the distance, a large piece of land showed up in her vision. She turned to her men. They were all running around, tending to the children. Before she could turn back around to look at the island, one of her men came up to her.

"Captain-chan!" He began, but before he could continue, she cut him off.

"I see land," she told him.

"A-actually, that was what I was going to say. That is the island of Dressrosa, and is our next stop," he said. Tashigi turned to the island.

"Of course. Make preparations to dock," she replied. He saluted her, and ran off. Tashigi sighed. Dressrosa, huh?

 _Later_

Tashigi stepped off the large boat. She glanced around at the people. It was a very strange island indeed. She remembered how shocking it was to see living toys when they first reached the island. But it had a strange beauty to it as well. She proceeded in meeting up with the marines on the island, and gathering up supplies and information for the children waiting on her ship. After a long while of traveling through the island with her men, she found herself in the main square of the town she was in, looking around peacefully at all the toys and humans. Suddenly, while she was in her own trance, she felt a familiar presence as a flash of green zipped past her, yelling something unintelligible. She blinked, gasped, and whipped around, her hair floating in the sudden movement. She watched the man run off. Roronoa Zoro?!

Tashigi stared at him running away. Three katanas, bright green hair, and that strong aura! She shook her head. Firstly, since when did she take into account the aura surrounding Roronoa Zoro? And secondly, that was impossible. They couldn't possibly be on the same island yet again. Why would the straw hats need to come to Dressrosa? Tashigi let out a huge sigh. Maybe she really was going crazy. She looked at the bandanna in her hand, freshly cleaned, with no trace of her blood left. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to check and see if that really was him... She shook her head vigorously at the thought. No no no. It was probably someone else! Someone else with bright green hair and the same three katanas as the infamous swordsman... Her head snapped up. If that really was Roronoa Zoro... She looked at the bandanna again. Perhaps she could find him. Tashigi grabbed at her hair. What was wrong with her?! She could've been imagining it, and if she was, she would waste precious time in order to find a figment of her imagination. She grumbled at the bandana in her hand. _It's your fault. Your fault for making me imagine things._ She didn't want to have this bandanna forever... She sighed, and glanced at her men.

"Why don't you all head to the ship first? I have one last thing to take care of," she said, almost reluctantly. They looked at her and then each other, but then proceeded to march back to the large ship.

Tashigi watched them leave and began to mumble to herself. What was Roronoa Zoro making her into? An irresponsible captain who made useless voyages because of something that belonged to a certain notorious pirate? She swerved around a corner, and stomped into an alley grumbling to herself. Suddenly, she felt someone's chest crash against her face and she fell down, with a slight shout. Why was this always happening to her? She looked up to the person to apologize, when she froze. _Eh... EH?!_


	3. A (Literal) Sit Down Talk

"SO IT WASN'T MY IMAGINATION!" She yelled, pointing her finger straight at him. Zoro's earrings swung as he stepped back, reflecting sunlight onto her glasses. Tashigi's face reddened immediately after realizing what she had just done.

"A-ah, I'm sorry!" She said, scrambling to stand up and bow quickly. When she looked up, however, she noticed that something was off. He was in a suit! And...he had a mustache? Was it supposed to be a disguise? Tashigi almost rolled her eyes. How on earth did she notice that he was in a suit before the fact that he had a mustache on? She also wondered how she knew it was him before even getting a good look. Maybe the aura that surrounded the swordsman that she had noticed before... Or maybe (probably) it was his green hair. His disguise was hardly a disguise with the bright color of it. Zoro seemed surprised to see her; he lifted his sunglasses up so that they rested on his head and also pulled down his fake mustache. He figured that she had already easily identified him. The disguises weren't very convincing. In fact, he felt relieved to be in a space where no one else was so that he could take it off. Well, besides the marine. He didn't think she would try to capture or fight him. Not here, and not now anyways.

"Oi, copycat. Are you stalking me now?" Zoro finally said, while he drew out his katana and pointed it at her teasingly, smirking. Tashigi looked up at him. His towering height blocked the sun, and the sunlight reflected off of his bright green hair, making it seem like it was glowing. The suit suited him surprisingly well. She huffed, diverting her eyes after realizing that she was staring. He wasn't trying to harm her at all, Tashigi could tell. The blunt side of his katana was up, the air felt less tense that it would if he was intending to hurt her, and his eyes showed no threat whatsoever. She looked him straight in the eye with a defiant expression, and the two stayed like that for a short while. Finally, Tashigi pushed the blade away with the back of her hand, and folded her arms, shaking her head.

"Most absolutely not! I came to return something of yours!" She snapped. Zoro lifted his eyebrows in surprise. She was about to take out his bandanna when something popped out from the inside of his shirt. Tashigi stared. A...tiny human? The creature had bright blue hair, a cute pointy nose, and was now yelling at the green haired swordsman as he put his katana back in his hilt. Tashigi watched in bewilderment.

"Hey! I told you that we already passed through this alley before! Hurry up, there's no time to waste! What are you doing-" the small creature stopped when she turned around and saw Tashigi. It was silent for a few moments, when Tashigi began to laugh.

"Oh! I've heard of you! You're one of those fairies of Dressrosa, right?" She said, bending her back to look at the small human at eye level. Zoro watched in surprise as the blue haired tiny human began to talk to Tashigi, both of them with delightful smiles on their faces. Zoro sweat-dropped. _Of course they're kind to each other, when they both yell the shit out of me._

"Are you a marine? What are you doing on Dressrosa? Oh, by the way, my name is Wicca, and I'm not a fairy, to the beliefs of the people of Dressrosa. I'm from Tontatta kingdom, where all of us live," Wicca said. Zoro watched at Tashigi listened to the Tontatta villager with wide eyes before replying.

"How interesting! So there are more of you? And of course, I am a marine captain. As for why I'm here..."  
She straightened her back, and gasped. "That's right! I came here to return something!" She exclaimed, and she took out Zoro's bandana.

"Oh!" He said, grabbing the bandanna from her hand and looking at it. Tashigi watched him pull up his sleeve, tie the bandanna on his arm, then pull the sleeve back down. She felt happy, all of a sudden, that she came this far to return it.  
"Thanks," Zoro said, almost smiling. Tashigi couldn't speak for a moment. Having a pirate thank her was awfully strange. On the other hand, Wicca whipped her head back back and forth, looking at Zoro then Tashigi repeatedly. She watched them with eyes full of question.

"There's no need to thank me. I simply did not want to be indebted to a pirate."

"Oh, so you're admitting that you have a debt to pay?" Zoro smirked.  
Tashigi felt her blood pump. After shaking her head in defeat, she put on a smile and tipped her head to look at Wicca once again.

"Well, Wicca, I have to return to my ship, but it was nice meeting you!" She said while extending her pointer finger. The small Tontatta shook her finger, and Tashigi mumbled a quiet farewell to Zoro, much to his annoyance. _All smiles for the fairy and mumbling for me, huh?_ He thought, crossing his arms. Tashigi turned around, and began to walk away. Zoro and Wicca both watched as her pink jacket flew around in the wind. Tashigi continued to walk, and was quite a few meters away when she reached a stairwell in the alleyway that led to a lower elevation. However, in her trance, she continued to walk, unaware of the stairs. She gasped as she lost her footing, and began to feel her body falling. She heard someone shouting in the background, and started to flail her arms. She let out a cry and braced for the impact, when she felt an arm catch her by her waist and turn her around, bringing her back into safety. Tashigi had her eyes tightly scrunched closed, and once she felt her feet on the ground again, she opened one eye, and then the other. She let out a large sigh of relief, and then looked up. Her breath hitched and her throat went dry. She swore she felt herself shrink a bit. Zoro was watching her with an alarmed expression, panting.

Wicca stared at the both of them. Suddenly, she crossed her arms and closed her eyes, a small smile of realization now spread on her face. On the other hand, Zoro's arms were wrapped around Tashigi, and his towering height overwhelmed her own. The small space of the alleyway didn't make it much better. Her face heated up and reddened in a matter of milliseconds (out of embarrassment and something else she both couldn't and didn't want to identify) and she began to stutter, her mouth wide open.

"R-r-ro..." She trailed off. She looked down at his arm around her and began to look frantically in all directions. Tashigi didn't exactly know why she was so flustered, but the warmth of his arms around her made something shift, and her mind felt cluttered all of a sudden. In her panicked frenzy, she let out a shout and lifted her arms in a swift motion, them colliding with Zoro's lower lip. Zoro's head whipped backwards, and he fell down to the ground after letting go of her waist, blinking. Wicca flew out of his shirt, and landed with a small thud next to Tashigi. Tashigi panted, and finally came back to her senses. During the confusion, Zoro's glasses had fallen, landing in a very crooked manner on his face. Her eyes locked with Zoro's and it was silent. The silence took a sharp turn when Zoro began to yell at her.

"OI, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!"

"I-I-I..y-Y-y" Tashigi began."I'm so sorry!" She bowed multiple times, panicking. Wicca began to laugh next to her. Tashigi felt amazingly stupid and humiliated. She looked down at Zoro and gasped when she saw the blood forming on his now cut lip. She looked around frantically and searched her pockets. Finally, she found a tissue and slid down onto her knees. Tashigi lifted the arm holding the tissue, and inched closer to him, her eyes glued to his bottom lip with as much focus as one could have on a simple cut on the lip. She was about to dab the cut with the paper cloth when Zoro grabbed her wrist, making her look up at him. He took the tissue from her hand, shooed her hand away with a few silent hand gestures, and patted the cut himself. Naturally, with all the wounds he had gotten in his life, he didn't care about the small cut, but he felt as if Tashigi would feel guilty for no reason if he left it, so he wiped it anyways. The small blue haired human next to her crossed her arms, watching both of them. Tashigi hung her head, inching back to her previous position.

"I'm sorry..." She apologized. Zoro removed the napkin and looked at the blood that spotted it. The bleeding had already stopped, as it was a minor cut to begin with. He then positioned the glasses back onto his head.

"Stop apologizing. It's annoying," he answered, crossing his arms and legs. "And what is up with you? Learn how to be how to be aware of your surroundings for once," he commented.  
Tashigi sunk her neck even more.

"Thank you," she said. Zoro lifted his eyes to look at her. "For saving me." She looked up, and into his eyes. Or eye. He grunted, and looked away. Tashigi looked past his shoulder. It had been a fairly long distance. It was amazing, really, how he had reached her in time. She recalled how he was panting when he reached her. She felt even more indebted to him now. She sighed.  
"I will get going now. My men will be looking for me-"

"Did you come all the way here to return my bandanna?" Zoro interrupted. Tashigi looked at him in surprise.

"Eh...I suppose so," she answered. She felt quite stupid admitting it. Although finding him wasn't her initial reason to be on the island, her staying behind was. Zoro smirked, shifting his eyes off into the distance on his right. Tashigi stared at the faraway look in his eyes, watching as his smirk disappeared into a more nonchalant facial expression. Why was she so intrigued by this pirate? She remembered thinking the same thing two years ago. After their first battle, he had said something about a friend. Tashigi recalled her thought process after the battle. She had always questioned what he truly meant when he was speaking this friend of his from that day on. The window of silence was instantly smashed when she found herself blurting,

"Who was she?" Tashigi instantly regretted what she had said. It was completely random and none of her business! What was wrong with her today?!

"What? Who?" Zoro questioned. Tashigi wanted to slap herself.

"Th-that's...," she started. She sighed, and continued, "the friend that you mentioned two years ago." Tashigi kept her eyes down, her fists clenched on her lap. There was another long silence. Tashigi finally peeked up at him, and was taken aback by the look in his eyes. His facial expression was his usual relaxed one, but his eyes showed a hint of surprise and sadness which set a strange feeling in her chest. She regretted it even more.  
"I-I'm sorry for asking! Please forget that I even asked." Tashigi hung her head once again. She prepared her body to stand up and leave, when Zoro's sudden words stopped her.

"I grew up in a dojo," Zoro started. Tashigi looked up. He was actually telling her?  
"I could always defeat the other kids easily, but there was one person who I could never beat." He continued. He cracked a small smile.

"Was that your friend?" Tashigi asked. He nodded.

"For me, my only goal then was to defeat her. She was a girl, but she was stronger than any boy in the dojo." Quite frankly, Zoro didn't know what he was doing either. He hadn't told anyone this, including his nakama. He didn't have a clue to why he was telling this to a marine so easily… especially one who so closely resembled his late friend. Or perhaps that was the reason. Nevertheless, Zoro felt that he had to tell at least one person and get it off his chest. And plus, he felt a strange trust in this woman, although he would never admit it to himself or to anyone else. He wondered why the copycat was so easy to talk to. It was comforting, even though he himself didn't realize. It almost amused him, seeing Tashigi so immersed in his story already. He even forgot that Wicca was listening also, with a knowing smile on her face. She, while listening to and watching all of what had happened so far, decided to let herself be a bit late for the sake of the two swordsmen.  
"At one point, she began to speak about how unfair it was, being a girl. What you said on that day was almost exactly the same to what she had said to me years before," Zoro said.  
"Then on one night, when I lost to her for the 2000th time, we made a promise to each other. A promise that at least one of us would become the best swordsman in the world."  
Tashigi suppressed a smile.  
"Then, the day after our promise, she had a fatal accident and...died." Zoro's voice became lower as he said the words. Tashigi gaped a little more openly than she would've wanted to. She felt horrible for bringing subject up. It must've been hard for him. His friend seemed very special to him. By now, the small Tontatta had tears pooling out of her eyes. After all, Tontattas were very emotional little people. Zoro turned to Wicca.  
"When did you start crying?" He asked, sweat-dropping. Wicca blew her nose with a tiny handkerchief she had pulled out from the inside of her blue jacket. Tashigi smiled at the small human, and patted her head gently with her fingers. A moment passed, and all that the three could hear was the sound of the wind blowing in their ears.

"I'm sorry," Tashigi said sympathetically. her eyes still on the Tontatta next her. Zoro looked at her, and then looked away.

"No, I needed to tell someone at least once," Zoro said. "Thanks for listening." Tashigi flinched, startled. She found her eyes flickering to the man in front of her in her surprise, although he still had his eyes glued on the wall next to him. She hadn't known that the man who seemed so emotionless and blunt could be so... soft. She almost laughed aloud at herself at the thought. In fact, what was she doing? Sitting down and talking to a pirate? Had she lost all her pride in being a marine? Her inner voice groaning at her outer-self echoed in her skull. She stood up abruptly, aware of his eyes (or his eye) following her. Before she could leave, his words stopped her.  
"I have a feeling that I'll see you again, _captain-chan_ ," Zoro teased, smirking. His eye seemed to pierce through her. Tashigi stepped back in surprise. She felt the hot warmth and color spread across her face almost immediately, her mouth hanging open. Wicca suppressed a small giggle.

"Eh-ah-I-er...I-I... Goodbye!" She said, bowing hastily. She turned on her heels and nearly ran down the stairs, attempting to leave before he could stop her or say anything else. Her face was still burning. _Embarrassment, embarrassment. That's all this is_ , she tried to tell herself. However, she skidded to a halt when she heard Zoro's voice stop her yet again.

"Oh, right. Oi, marine."  
Tashigi turned around, and looked up at Zoro. His back was to her, and she watched as he put his sunglasses back on, arranged the fake mustache on his face, and grabbed Wicca, placing her in his shirt again. Then, he rummaged around his body, took out a white cloth, and threw it behind him. Tashigi scrambled to catch it. When she did, she realized that it was her own white handkerchief that had been tied around her arm initially at Punk Hazard. She looked up at Zoro once more.  
"Yours," he remarked as he turned his head a bit to look at her, smirking, the white mustache moving with his lips. Tashigi simply watched him with a blank stare, frozen. Then, he turned his head back around and ran off with one hand in the air as a goodbye. Tashigi veered back around as well and sighed, grabbing her hair on both sides out of frustration while gripping the cloth tightly. She could hear Wicca yelling directions at Zoro, and Zoro arguing back. She almost smiled, but then sighed as she remembered what had happened. That had surprised her. Tashigi never thought that the nickname given to her by her subordinates would ever escape Roronoa Zoro's mouth... She shook her head. He obviously did it to annoy her. And she couldn't believe that he had bothered to clean the white handkerchief. Had he expected to see her again and return it too? She shook her head in defeat. She didn't want to see that face ever again. Tashigi looked at the stairs one last time and then walked back to her ship, replaying the day in her head.


	4. The End of a Beginning

"Captain-chan, where have you been?" One of her men asked her. Zoro's arm around her waist and his panting face towering over hers crossed her mind. She recalled him calling her "captain-chan" and coughed, a strange feeling spreading in her chest.

"I was getting additional supplies." She lied. The men didn't seem to believe her. It wasn't so much of a believable lie at all. Where were the supplies, then? Why had she gone for more supplies when they already had stocked up earlier? Also, why would she go to get supplies on her own? Her men were kind enough not to ask the questions. If their captain was hiding something, then they would let her hide it. It wasn't often that she did hide something from them anyways. Tashigi sighed, and smiled. "Let's go, men," she said softly. They nodded doubtfully, but eventually shrugged it off, and began to prepare to sail to the next island. Tashigi walked back to her office, and collapsed onto her chair. She glanced at the empty spot where the black cloth had sat just a few hours ago. She couldn't help but wonder why she had gone this far to return it. She squeezed the white handkerchief tightly, and then placed it carefully on her desk.

 _"I have a feeling that I'll see you again, 'captain-chan.'"_  
Tashigi began to sort her papers, unaware of the large smile spread across her face.

As if.


	5. Bullshit

**Okay. Let me just preface this by saying-**

 **I apologize for not having updated sooner omfg. I personally haven't been really idle, I've actually been writing up the continuation to this for a while now. But of course it just occurred to me that I could just publish what I have done. So beware an incoming chapter spam!**

 **Jk it's not that much.**

 **I hope you guys like it, and please remember to favorite, follow, and comment!**

* * *

Zoro ran and ran. Honestly, he might have forgotten what he was running for. His mind felt strangely blank.

"HEY!"

A loud, high pitched shout brought him back to his senses.

He looked down at the small Tontatta, halting his senseless run.

"What?" He asked.

"I've been calling you! Where are you going?! This is the opposite way we have to go, and you weren't even listening to my directions!" Wicca huffed angrily.

"Oh," Zoro said. "Sorry," he finished, turning around and resuming his run.

Wicca cocked her eyebrow and then tipped her gaze downwards. She paused, then crossed her arms.

"You're in love with that woman, aren't you?" She asked. Zoro froze, tripped, and fell on his face.

Wicca shouted in surprise.

Zoro stood up at lightning speed after a short moment on the ground, an almost crushed to death Wicca popping out of his shirt.

" _What_?!" He asked her, glaring. Wicca refrained from screeching at him for almost killing her, and crossed her arms again. She sighed.

"Well you've obviously been thinking about something this entire time, and your encounter with her was evidence enough," she said in an as-a-matter-of-fact-like tone, closing her eyes.

Zoro just stared, at a loss for words. Wicca smirked, giggling.

"I knew it," she said. Zoro finally snapped out of his trance, immediately scowling.

"What kind of bullshit are you saying now?" He asked, beginning to run once again.

"It's true, though," she muttered. Zoro ignored the fact that his ears were turning pink, and scowled. He ignored her for the rest of their trip.

.

.

.

 _Later_

Zoro found himself running around, trying to locate the shitty soprano rock. He was beyond annoyed. Not only was his opponent's voice aggravating,

but all he did was run away and drop reckless attacks on random areas. He was running when he suddenly heard the strange sound of a den den

mushi ring. For whatever reason, he felt compelled to stop. He looked to his right, and noticed a small den den mushi on the ground. He walked over

to it, and picked it up. It had a blue stripe on it, and a familiar symbol on it as well. A marine den den mushi? He stared at it for a few seconds, when

he heard a loud crash happen behind him. He slipped the den den mushi into his pocket on impulse, and began to run towards the loud sound.


	6. On the Dangers of a Meddlesome Captain

**OKAY ANOTHER PREFACE!**

 **This chapter takes place on the ship, basically right after the Dressrosa arc ends. Now. I am 1000% aware that this can't happen, nor does it happen in the actual story line.**

 **But let us pretend for the sake of a fanfiction! Ha ha.**

 **Sorry.**

 **(K but lemme just- MFG SANJI BB LIKE WOW OKAY ODA JUST SHOOT US THROUGH OUR HEARTS SURE)**

 **(But also dem plot twists and dat character development doe)**

 **(Okay I'm done)**

 **(I applaud you if you read all of this lol)**

 **(Follow, favorite, and comment plez! I love you all!)**

* * *

Huh?

Zoro turned around and looked at the small den den mushi.

He still didn't get why he took it.

The snail was making the strange noise it always did when the other end was trying to make a call.

Zoro closed his eye, trying to go back to sleep. As if he'd answer a call from the Navy.

Only an idiot would do something like th-

"Hello?"

Zoro's eye shot open and he turned towards the den den mushi, only to see that his captain had somehow come out of nowhere and picked up the call.

Oh that's right. There existed such idiot.

He lunged for the snail to take it away from him but froze once the other end began to talk.

"Hello? Zephyr? Zephyr?"

Zoro's throat went dry. No way.

"Huh? Zephyr? Who's that? My name is Mon-"

Luffy was cut off when Zoro resumed his lunge, knocking him down.

"Oi! Zoro! What're you-" he was cut off once again: Zoro had clamped his hand over Luffy's mouth.

The other end went silent. Suddenly, the snail gave off a very loud sound, suggesting that the person had dropped the receiver.

A faint "eh?" could be heard on the other line.

Luffy wiggled out of Zoro's grasp and yelled, "GET OFF OF ME!" to which Zoro yelled back, "SHUT UP YOU IDIOT! I DON'T WANT HER TO KNOW THAT I HAVE HER DAMN DEN DEN MUSHI!"

The other end made a hiccup like noise.

"R-Roronoa Zoro?!"

Luffy slowed his wiggling.

"Zoro, do you know who that is?"

Zoro clenched his jaw, a vein popping up on his forehead.

"NO! Now get the hell out of here!" he yelled while all but throwing Luffy out the door.

The room was silent except for Zoro's ragged breathing from his struggle with Luffy. He looked down at the den den mushi on the ground and sighed, running his hand through his hair.

"You alive?" he asked.

The other end remained silent.

"Oi. Copycat."

"...Yes. May I ask why you have Zephyr's den den mushi?"

"I dunno. It was on the ground somewhere and I heard it ring so I picked it up. But then I got seen by some people looking to kill me and I guess I never let go of it."

"Where is Zephyr?"

"I don't know who this Zephyr is."

Tashigi was silent.

"He wasn't anywhere near this den den mushi?"

"No."

"No sign of him at all? No injured bodies lying near it?"

"No."

"Then he should be fine, right?" she asked, her voice shaking. Zoro paused.

"Oi are you crying?"

"...no."

"Liar."

"...he's been missing ever since we landed at Dressrosa."

"That doesn't mean he's dead. I get lost all the time."

Tashigi tried not to laugh.

"I thought you were unaware of your terrible sense of direction."

"Yeah, well when so many people yell about it in your face all the time, you're kind of forced to accept it."

This time, she failed her attempt at not laughing, and let out a small and short chuckle. Zoro stopped, taken aback. He was about to say something when Sanji burst into the room. Zoro stared at him in annoyance and shock.

"OI YOU SHITTY MARIMO! HOW DARE YOU NOT TELL ME YOU WERE TALKING TO A WOMAN! HOW DO YOU KNOW HER? WHAT DOES SHE LOOK LIKE-" Sanji stopped mid sentence when Zoro attacked him, trying to forcefully push him out of the doorway. At that moment, Brook popped up.

"YO HO HO! Zoro I hear you're talking to a lady! Excuse me, may I see your pant-" he stopped when Zoro stuck a foot in his face. To make it worse, Nami also poked her head through the door.

"ZORO! LUFFY TELLS ME YOU'RE TALKING WITH SOMEONE FROM THE NAVY! DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH?!"

Zoro looked at her helplessly, unable to block off her mouth.

"nAVY?! I'm with Nami on this one! Are you tRYING to get caught?!" Usopp yelled from the doorway.

"EHH?! NAVY?! HOW DID YOU GET A DEN DEN MUSHI FROM THE NAVY?!" Chopper called out.

"I hear you're having a talk with a woman! Did you get lost again and meet her by chance?" Franky asked, his blue hair visible from the doorway as well.

"A woman from the Navy? Captain Tashigi, correct? You were spending an awfully large amount of time with her back at Punk Hazard." Robin stated calmly. Everyone turned to look at her, then at the den den mushi. Zoro froze, and then whipped his head towards the snail receiver.

"DON'T ANSWER!" he yelled. The line stayed quiet.

"SO IT IS!" the rest replied in unison. They all began to yell their own opinions and Zoro watched in disbelief. The sound of a door opening sounded from the other end.

"Oi."

"Ah, S-Smoker-san!"

The entire crew went dead silent.

"What is all that noise?"

"Um, I was just having a conversation on the den den mushi. A….very loud one."

"...Well tell whoever you're talking to to pipe down."

"Yes, sir."

Zoro, seeing a chance in the silence, pushed all the members out at once and slammed the door shut, locking it tightly. He huffed, running his hand through his hair and sitting down.

Silence ensued.

"...Sorry," Zoro finally said.

"Er, is it always like that?"

"Yeah."

"...I see."

"Hey-"

"What am I doing?"

"What?"

"I'm having a discussion on my den den mushi with a pirate."

Zoro paused, opening his mouth to say something, but ended up shutting his mouth and staying silent.

"I should not be doing this. You are a pirate, but…." Tashigi's voice trailed off.

"But what?"

"N-nothing! Nothing at all. You are a pirate and we should not be having this conversation."

"...Good point."

Tashigi paused on the other end.

"Goodbye."

"Yeah."

Zoro listened to the click of Tashigi's receiver, the line cutting off. He ran his hand through his hair. Why was it always her? No matter where he went, there seemed to be no way to escape her.

He huffed, vigorously shaking his head for a moment. Whatever. He was starting to get a headache.


	7. I've Been Thinking Too Much (pt 1)

Tashigi let out a large sigh, her gaze on the den den mushi. Was that too harsh? She shook her head. Of course not! He's a pirate! It shouldn't matter….

But of course it did.

She was going crazy, wasn't she? Completely out of her mind. She thought back to their conversation, and how sincere he was for that moment.

Tashigi looked out the window.

This was precisely why she did not want any more contact with the pirate whatsoever. Once she was reminded of him, she became terribly distracted by thoughts of him.

"I'm crazy," she said out loud, slumping down in her chair.

She couldn't understand what it was about Roronoa Zoro that drove her to do things like this. She also couldn't understand why she hadn't done something to maybe find their whereabouts, or even chuck the den den mushi out the window. She shouldn't want any sort of connection to any pirate. But still…

Zoro's smirk flashed in her brain. She slapped her face on both sides with her hands. The memory of the lack of distance between her and Roronoa when he saved her from falling down the stairs appeared in her brain shortly after. Tashigi felt herself flush slightly.

She dropped her head down onto her desk, internally yelling at herself.

What had she gotten herself into?

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _On the Thousand Sunny_

Feeling restless, Zoro stood up and left the room after staring at that _stupid_ den den mushi for a bit. He stomped up to the crow's nest and sat himself down in front of a window.

He closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep, but all that he could think of was the sound of Tashigi chuckling softly. He closed his eyes tighter. Not much help. He scowled and lifted his hands to the top of his head, fervently mussing his hair. What was he doing?

"What are you doing?"

Zoro almost punched Robin in the face in his surprise. He opened his eyes and turned his gaze to her, removing his hands from his hair. He tried to ignore the fact that his hair probably really did look like a marimo now. Damn cook.

He grunted, and looked out the window.

"Nothing"

Robin smiled.

After a long pause, she looked out the window too and said "you like her."

Zoro jerked violently and turned to Robin. He felt his blood rush to his face, much to his annoyance. Sweat began to form on his forehead.

"what?" He asked.

Robin chuckled.

"I haven't heard you talk to anyone like that before."

Zoro couldn't speak for a moment.

"...like what? I never-"

"Hm, it sounded different to me."

Zoro just stared.

After a few minutes, he snapped out of his trance and plastered a scowl on his face.

"You just heard it wrong. Why would I like that glasses copycat?"

Robin smiled.

"I don't think anyone would know the answer to that question but you."

Zoro stared, a bit dumbfounded. He tried to find a smart answer to give back, but all he could utter was "W-well I don't like her."

Robin simply chuckled. Zoro glared at her.

 _You like her._

Zoro felt a burning sensation on his ears again and shook his head. What was wrong with him?

He looked back up at Robin, only to see that she was leaving.

Before she left, however, she paused, and turned around to look at him.

"By the way, who said I was talking about Miss Tashigi?"

Zoro looked at her, dumbfounded. Robin chuckled, and left the room, leaving behind a confused and annoyed Zoro.

* * *

 **What do you _mean_ that was totally OOC?**

 **Ha.**

 **Ha.**

 **I know. I apologize (；▽；)**

 **Honestly the hardest part of writing fanfics for this pairing is that I know that Tashigi is so loyal to her job and position that even if she fell in love with Zoro, she'd never allow herself to accept or do anything about it. I seriously cringe every time I have to write her point of view because I know that it's so OOC. Cri.**

 **Anywho.**

 **I hope you enjoyed and didn't cringe too badly.**

 **(P.S. If you didn't get Robin's last line, it was her saying that Zoro automatically assumed who she was saying he liked, even if she never directly said who she was addressing. Basically it was just evidence that Zoro was thinking about her. You guys probably got that and I'm just being dumb rn lol. Just thought I'd clarify.)**

 **Wait!**

 **While I'm here, let me just reply to all of your comments! (especially since this is the last chapter of the spam- the next ones will be out soon, I promise!)**

 **Lost soul- AW! That was one of the sweetest things I've heard, ngl. Thank you so much! Hope you find that password soon ;)**

 **Alexa Hiwatari- Hopefully this spam was fluffy enough for you! As for what happens to them, stay tuned!**

 **Ana- Thank you so much! It definitely was not the last chapter ;)**

 **Tfortempestuous- Thank you so much! I'm glad I was able to bring forth the spunk lol**


	8. I've Been Thinking Too Much (pt 2)

***scratches head***

 **This wasn't as soon as I was planning it to be.**

 **Ha ha...**

 **Um, well I hope you guys like it anyways!**

 **Thank you so so much for the support! I love you all!**

* * *

Tashigi spent the rest of the day trying to push thoughts of Roronoa Zoro out of her mind while boring her tired eyes through the papers she had to read and fill. It was nighttime when she decided that she was far too hungry and tired to continue. She stood up from the desk and stretched. She walked over to her door sleepily and opened it, walking out onto the deck. The cool evening wind brushed her hair off her shoulders, as she began to walk to the dining hall. She stopped halfway there, however, noticing a large group of her men in a corner of the ship. She cocked her head and crossed her arms.

"What are you all doing?" She asked. All of them seemed to jump and the freeze simultaneously. Tashigi watched as they all turned around and looked back at her slowly. A few minutes passed when one of them pushed another towards her. The one pushed towards her turned around at the other with an angry and panicked expression. He then turned back around and smiled at Tashigi sheepishly.

"Captain-chan, w-w-w-w-what are you doing out here this late?" he asked. Tashigi frowned.

"Tell me what you all were doing, this instant," she replied. A long silence with shaky eyes and panicked expressions ensued.

Finally, someone broke the silence in a near shout.

"W-WE WERE WONDERING WHAT YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH RORONOA ZORO IS " he yelled.

Tashigi immediately froze. All the other men whipped their heads towards the man who had shouted and gawked. They then all turned to her.

"W-what?" She asked.

The men slowly began to snap out of their surprise and support the words of the soldier who had shouted.

"W-well, I heard you talking to him on the den den mushi before"

"Yeah, and that one time at Punk Hazard"

Tashigi stared, utterly dumbfounded. Her mind was flooded with regrets and panicked shouts. She gripped her arm and looked down at the wooden deck. She took a few deep breaths and then looked back up at them with the most defiant expression she could muster.

"Nonsense. You must have been mistaken, there is no way he could have a Marine den den mushi. And Punk Hazard was simply out of courtesy. I was bleeding, after all. Aside from all of this, the man is a pirate. Are you all not ashamed to be questioning my relationship with him?" She asked.

Her men looked down at their feet.

"Go to bed, all of you," she said.

"Yes, captain," was the reply.

With that, she turned around and walked away.

Once their captain had turned a corner and was no longer visible, one of the men spoke, breaking the silence.

"She was blushing."

.

.

.

Tashigi walked in steady steps towards her room. Her calm demeanor was nothing but exactly that. A demeanor. As she walked, she fought the impulse to hit her head against the nearest wall.

 _Ashamed? Aren't you ashamed? Not only was all of that a lie, but their doubts have nothing but correct reasoning!_

Tashigi let out a long sigh. She hadn't expected them to be so outfront, either.

" _We were wondering what your relationship with Roronoa Zoro is!"_

She paused.

 _My relationship with…. Roronoa Zoro?_

She stopped right in front of her bedroom doors. Relationship? What relationship? The only relationship they had was the relationship between a pirate and a marine.

She stepped into her room and flopped down on her bed.

As she lay there, a tiny voice echoed the word _relationship_ in her mind, over and over again until she eventually drifted to sleep.

* * *

 **That was really effing short omfg I'm sorrehhhh**

 **Hope you liked it anyways :(**

 **I'm planning to have the next chapter up soon? But we all know about my definition of soon lmao**

 **It's actually all done and typed, I'm just not sure how smooth the transition is, and whether or not it's too fast paced?**

 **Once I'm actually sure and have it just how I want it, I'll be sure to put it up.**

 **Thank you guys again!**


	9. Wiggling Eyebrows

**I'm back!**

 **Late. Again. I know.**

 **This chapter may be a bit awkward(?) because I wanted to get it to you guys asap.**

 **I hope you guys enjoy it anyways :)**

 **P. S this doesn't take place necessarily directly after all the chapters before. I like to think that there was a few days in between.**

* * *

It was deathly quiet in the dining room. Franky and Usopp sat at different corners, Usopp focusing on freshening his weapon, and Franky simply drinking cola. Zoro sat across from the kitchen area, his eyes closed. Sanji was getting ready to cook dinner.

It was a calm and peaceful day.

Zoro felt anything but peaceful, however.

Although he was seemingly asleep, his mind was flooding with thoughts that he didn't really enjoy.

 _So you like her._

Zoro scowled. Bullshit.

He tried to go to sleep.

It didn't really work.

 _I haven't heard you talk to anyone like that before._

Zoro gritted his teeth.

 _You're in love with that woman, aren't you?_

Something in his brain finally snapped, and he asked the question before he could even think to stop himself.

"How do you know if you like someone?"

A rigid silence fell immediately over the room, but this time, they were all frozen as well. Then, Zoro's nakama all began to act at once.

Sanji choked on smoke and began to cough, Usopp accidentally hit himself in the face with his slingshot, and Franky spit out his cola in a long stream.

"What the hell…?" Sanji asked.

"Zoro, are you okay?" Usopp questioned worriedly.

"Should I call Chopper?" Franky asked, getting ready to leave the room.

Zoro's vein bulged on his forehead. He closed his eyes again, clearly irked.

"Never mind," he mumbled. Sanji wasn't having it, however. He crept his way over to Zoro, and began to stare at him with a teasing expression.

"Hm?" Sanji said, much to Zoro's annoyance.

"Has our Marimo finally grown up?" He asked. Zoro clenched his jaw, his eyes still closed.

"Well I mean, that poor woman-" Sanji began in a teasingly sad voice, when Zoro shot out his foot and kicked him across the room. Sanji landed in a crash, then emerged from a pile of broken boxes.

"OI WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" He shouted. Zoro still refused to budge. Sanji smiled maliciously once again.

"Oh hoh, I see. So it's a guy then-" Sanji started. A murderous look shone in Zoro's now open eye.

Both Zoro and Sanji were up at lightning speed, now in a battle position with Zoro's katanas up against Sanji's foot. Usopp sighed loudly, sharing a here we go again look with Franky.

"Do you want to die?" Zoro asked, glaring.

"I should be asking that question," Sanji replied.

Lightning began to flash in between their eyes. They were just about to go into full-battle-mode when the two men suddenly had their heads bashed into the ground. Nami stood there, her hands on her hips.

"You guys don't know when to quit, do you?" She asked, sighing.

Sanji sat up, a lump on his head.

"But Nami-san! Zoro kicked me into the pile of boxes over there!" He whined.

"That's only cause you were being dumb, you damn cook," Zoro said, a lump also on his head.

"What?!" Sanji asked. They began to glare at each other once again, only to be hit in the faces. Again.

"It doesn't matter! I can't focus because of you guys, and heaven forbid me having to come back up here to stop you guys again," Nami growled. Sanji's shoulders slumped, and Zoro simply crossed his arms.

Nami huffed, and shook her head. She then turned and began to walk towards the exit. Before she could leave, however, Sanji caught her at the door and began to whisper something to her. Zoro watched suspiciously. A malicious smile like Sanji's earlier one crept itself onto Nami's face.

"Oh really?" She asked. Zoro felt a rush of pure horror wash over him. He immediately stood up and began to chase after Sanji with his katanas in the air, yelling something about killing him. Sanji simply ran away, cackling gleefully.

Usopp, Franky, and Nami stood in the room, letting out a simultaneous sigh. Nami walked back in and sat at the dining table. Robin strolled in at that moment, holding a book.

"What's their reason this time?" She asked, chuckling softly. Nami poured herself a cup of tea, then sat down at the table. She smirked.

"I think Zoro has a crush."

* * *

 **Ooh la la! Nami and others catching on to stuffs!**

 **Okay that was weird. I'm so weird whoops.**

 **Hope you enjoyed that one! I tried to keep the OOC really low but I may have failed Idek.**

 **By the way, I apologize if sanji's comment sounded homophobic(?)**

 **It was not intended to be like that at all lmao im gaYYYYYyYYYYY (bi, really)**

 **I just think Zoro gets annoyed at anything Sanji says to him, especially in that tone and manner.**

 **Also id really like to thank you guys for the support! Every time I get a notification that someone else is following or favoriting me I feel so happy and warm inside :) Thank you so much!**

 **Oh and I'd like to say that the next chapters will definitely take a while to get up. I've written stuff for later chapters but there's this gap that I have to write. Sorry :(((( (God I talk a lot im sorry lol)**


	10. Relax, I'm On Vacation

**I'm backkkk! That took a while, sorry :(**

 **This chapter is pretty darn long though, so maybe that'll make it up to you guys!**

 **I hope you enjoy! Don't forget to review, follow, and/or favorite!**

 **Only if you wish to ofc :)**

* * *

 _About a week later_

Tashigi let out a long sigh. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned. Hina-san smiled at her, and she smiled back. Somehow, Hina had forced her into leaving her ship and coming with her on a short vacation. While initially she was worried, it was nice to finally be able to relax at least a little. Surprisingly, Smoker-san hadn't seemed too opposed to the idea.

What wasn't nice was that she was forced to wear an embarrassing t-shirt that said in bold lettering "Relax Pirates, I'm On Vacation." She felt that the shirt brought her too much attention. Oh well.

It felt admittedly strange to her to be wearing something other than her marine uniform. She was wearing a swimsuit under her outfit, and it had probably been years since she last wore one. The rest of her outfit consisted of simple shorts and sandals.

Tashigi strolled through the streets of the island with Hina, marveling at how pretty and tropical the entire look of it was. The island they had landed on was a very popular vacation spot, so there were tons of people surrounding them. Tashigi smiled. She was looking forward to this.

.

.

 _Later that day_

Tashigi walked into the nearest bar. She had somehow finally shaken off Hina-san, and now had some time to herself. She longed to change her shirt, but she knew that Hina would get extremely angry at her if she was caught without it on. She sat at the front of the bar and ordered a small bottle of sake. She placed her elbow down on the wooden counter and tapped the wood with her fingertips. Maybe she shouldn't have run away from Hina-san. She somehow felt loneliness creeping up on her. She looked out the window to her right. In her daze, she heard the sound of a cup being placed down onto the wooden counter. Without bothering to look at the cup, she shot her hand out, grabbed it, and chugged its contents. Suddenly, she felt rapidly dizzy and her vision blurred. She felt herself lose consciousness within a few seconds.

.

Zoro had entered the bar in expectation of seeing countless men roaring with laughter or others passed out drunk. He had definitely _not_ expected to see Tashigi stroll in a short time after he had settled down by himself at a table in the corner of the room. His first reaction was to choke on his sake, but he caught himself before he made too loud of a noise. He decided not to move. He found himself staring at her endlessly, however. The time that he had spent thinking about her on the ship and the ridiculous amount of teasing he had received from his crew members made him fidgety at the sight of her. Somehow, he felt exposed.

The crew was there on vacation as well, unaware of the presence of a small group of marines also on vacation. Zoro had thought to notify them, but then he eyed the lettering on Tashigi's shirt and smirked to himself. Maybe he didn't have to.

He watched her as she sat down at the front of the bar and ordered a drink. Zoro cocked his eyebrow. She didn't seem to be the type to like drinking alcohol. He wondered why she was alone. Zoro studied her facial expression as it transitioned to one of relaxedness to one of what seemed like sadness. He tilted his head and propped up his cheek with his palm. The bartender walked up and slammed a cup of what seemed to be some sort of strong alcohol, as it was in a small cup. A man stood up to retrieve his drink, when Tashigi suddenly shot her hand out and drank it in one gulp. Zoro's eyes widened. _What the hell?_

He watched in disbelief as Tashigi's eyes fluttered shut, her head and arm slamming down onto the wooden counter. He looked around for a bit before standing up and walking over to where she sat, unconscious. He sat himself down in the seat next to her.

"Oi," he said, poking her head with his finger.

No response. He sighed, running his hand through his hair. Why was it that he was somehow always there when the copycat was being a disaster?

His eyes fell onto Tashigi's face once again. He watched as a piece of hair fell onto her eyes, resting on the rim of her glasses. He reached out to move it, then hesitated. His hand faltered, and he dropped it. He looked out the window, then made a decision that he knew he would regret for the rest of his life.

He grumbled to himself as he put some money (lent to him by Nami, after a long tirade and debate) onto the counter then stood up. He put an arm around Tashigi's stomach area and then swung her up over his shoulder. _Damn deja vu_ , he thought to himself as he left the bar.

.

Lucky for him, before he could get too lost, he bumped into Nami, Usopp, and Chopper.

"Zoro, did you abduct someone?"

"Isn't that Tashigi-san?"

"EHH?! You mean the woman you-"

Zoro gave Chopper a menacing look before he could finish his sentence. Chopper cowered.

"What happened to her?" Usopp asked. Zoro ran a hand through his hair again.

"She was being an idiot," he replied. Usopp and Nami exchanged a glance.

"Bring her to the ship so I can check on her," Chopper said. Nami and Usopp turned to him in shock.

"Are you kidding?! She's a marine! A powerful one at that!" Usopp exclaimed. Zoro looked away.

"Then what are we going to do? Try to find her Marine friends and return her to them? That would just make the situation worse," he said. Nami and Usopp exchanged a glance again, and then gave Zoro a sly smile. A vein bulged on Zoro's forehead..

"DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT!" He yelled. Nami grinned, and then crossed her arms.

"I guess that we have no choice then. But we confiscate the katana and her den den mushi before she wakes up," she said. They all began to walk towards the ship together. Or, almost all of them.

"ZORO IT'S THIS WAY!"

.

.

Zoro walked into the infirmary and all but threw Tashigi down onto the bed. Chopper gave him a scolding look, and asked him to leave. Zoro backed up with his hands in the air and left.

Later on, however, Chopper came out onto the deck where he sat.

"You can go see her now if you want to," he said. Zoro turned the other way, grumbling.

"Who said I wanted to see her?" He asked gruffly. Chopper gave him a smile, and then went off to find Usopp and tell him that he had finished working.

Zoro waited for him to disappear from his sight. He then stood up and walked towards the infirmary. He was just curious. Obviously.

He opened the infirmary door and walked over to Chopper's favorite swivel chair. He sat in it and cocked his head to the left to look at Tashigi. She was fast asleep, her breathing deep and steady. Zoro didn't really understand why he was watching her, but he couldn't find himself being able to stop doing it. Her sleeping face was definitely a lot nicer than the distortion that occurs whenever he angers her. He sighed, finally looking away. He was going insane, wasn't he? He turned back to her.

His gaze didn't leave her until his eyes closed and he fell fast asleep.

.

Tashigi's eyes fluttered open. A piercing pain shot through her head, and she winced. She brought a hand up to it, then sat up. What happened?

She looked around, bewildered. This was definitely not somewhere she had been before. While she was questioning her situation, her eyes landed on a green haired man, sleeping on a chair across from her. Green hair…?!

Tashigi let out a strangled gasp, rapidly sliding herself to the very edge of the bed with her feet. She then clasped her hands over her mouth. Where was she that Roronoa Zoro was there?! She began to look around herself once again. The room was relatively small, and the walls were wooden. She noticed that the door had a circular window implanted in it. Was she on a ship? Her eyes landed once again on Zoro. This time, they stayed glued onto him. Her facial expression softened as she watched him sleep. He seemed a lot less intimidating when he was sleeping. His usual scowl was replaced by a more peaceful look. Tashigi began to recall all of their past encounters and the questions of her men. She felt blood rise to her cheeks and she looked away.

Tashigi looked down. She was still wearing her embarrassing shirt. She sighed. Roronoa had probably been quite amused at the sight of it. She began to notice that something was off, however. Her eyes widened and her hand flew to her side. She let out a loud screech.

Zoro's eye flew open, and he shifted his gaze to the panicking woman in front of him. Their eyes met, and Tashigi paused her frantic movement. Her eyes then transitioned from surprised to angry. Zoro took a moment to figure out why she was angry. He smirked.

"Looking for this?" Zoro asked, as he reached behind his seat and revealed to her her katana. Tashigi's eyes flashed.

"How dare you?!" She yelled, leaping out of the bed she was sitting in. However, to her dismay, her legs wobbled under her, and she lost her balance. Zoro's eyes widened in alarm, and he quickly moved to catch her arms before she fell. Tashigi's eyes met his, and the two paused for a few seconds before Tashigi removed her hands from his and stood up. She coughed, and muttered a small thank you. Zoro stepped away from her, looking away.

"I'll return it to you once you leave. Nami told me to take it away from you" he said. Tashigi nodded her head reluctantly. At least he was a man who knew the worth of katanas. Sort of.

Tashigi seemed to remember something. She looked up at him.

"Where am I? Why are you here?" She asked. Zoro scoffed and then looked at her.

"I should be asking that. What kind of marine is clumsy enough to pass out from drinking someone else's drink at a bar?" he replied. Tashigi's eyes widened. Her memory had suddenly come flooding back.

"Th-that wasn't my drink?"

Zoro gave her an exasperated look.

"Are you stupid?"

Tashigi didn't answer. Instead, she gulped and asked "So where am I now then?"

Zoro shrugged. "On our ship."

Tashigi gave him a look of pure horror.

"Me? On a pirate ship?" She squeaked.

Zoro smirked at her.

"Does that bother you, Marine Captain?"

Tashigi crossed her arms, irked. She was about to answer when the door opened. They both looked at the doorway. Chopper was standing there, his hands full of medical supplies. Recognition shone in Tashigi's eyes.

"Oh, you're awake!" Chopper exclaimed. Tashigi smiled, causing Zoro to stare at her.

"Ah, Chopper-san!"

Zoro had almost forgotten that Chopper had helped treat her men back at Punk Hazard. He rolled his eyes. He felt like he had been third wheeled.

"You remember me?"

"Of course! My men were really thankful for what you did for them, as were the children."

Chopper's eyes immediately lit up and he began to do his silly dance again.

"Just because you compliment me it doesn't mean I'll feel happy, you idiot!"

Tashigi chuckled, then stopped once she felt Zoro's eye on her. She looked to him, and he quickly averted his gaze. Tashigi shifted her gaze away as well.

Chopper piped up.

"Are you feeling alright? Your head must hurt," he asked. Tashigi put a hand to her head, reminded of the pain.

"Ah, yes. It's quite painful," she said.

Chopper handed her a small pill and a cup of water, instructing her to swallow it. She did so.

"I can't do much for you now. Fresh air would probably be good, and a lot of rest," he said, smiling. Tashigi nodded.

"Of course. Thank you very much!" She replied, patting his head. As a Marine, Tashigi found Chopper to be terribly hard to dislike. In truth, she found it hard to dislike most of the Straw Hat crew personally. Her so-called dislike for them stemmed almost entirely off of her duty as a Marine. After Punk Hazard, she had once thought to herself that if she wasn't a Marine, she would've had little problem with the Straw Hat crew, if any. Of course, she had scolded herself for thinking such a thing shortly afterwards, but she had thought it nonetheless.

Tashigi left the room, greeted with the dark color of the night sky and the ocean. She looked to her left, relieved to see that they were still at the dock of the island. She heard the door open behind her. Zoro stood there, crossing his arms.

"Come on," he said. Tashigi nodded, following behind him as he walked towards the deck. Once they had reached the deck, they suddenly heard a door slam open. They looked up towards the noise, greeted with Sanji holding a tray. He pranced down the stairs and all but slid towards Tashigi on one knee.

"Ah Mademoiselle! Please drink this before you leave! It's green tea, which is good for heachaches-" He was cut off when a katana handle slammed down onto his head. Tashigi watched in disbelief, turning to the owner of the katana. He looked beyond ticked off.

"OI, YOU SHITTY MARIMO! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" Sanji yelled, after setting the tray down carefully and standing up.

"STOP BEING A DUMBASS, YOU STUPID DARTBOARD!"

"I WAS SERVING A MADEMOISELLE IN HOPES OF MAKING HER FEEL BETTER! WHY?! JEALOU-"

He was cut off once again when Zoro jabbed him in the chest with another katana handle.

Tashigi watched in utter bewilderment and also slight fear. Zoro and Sanji had begun an all out brawl, and Tashigi somehow felt that it would be a bad idea to leave in her current situation.

She let out a loud shriek when she heard a voice say "Hello, Tashigi-san." She turned, greeted with a smiling Nico Robin. Ever since Alabasta, Tashigi could not shake the fear she had of Nico Robin, despite the fact that it had lessened greatly.

"H-hello, Nico Robin," she replied.

"Are you getting ready to leave?" Robin asked.

"Ah, yes. I was about to but…"

Robin chuckled. "They do this a lot, don't mind it."

"Ah, yes," Tashigi said again.

A moment of silence (besides the yelling of Zoro and Sanji of course) passed when Robin began to speak again.

"Oh, that's right. What are your opinions on Zoro, Captain-san?" She asked. Tashigi felt herself flush slightly.

"M-my opinions?" She asked back. Robin chuckled.

"Yes. Because Zoro seems quite interested in you," she stated. Tashigi's face reddened much more at that.

"Wh-wha?" She stuttered.

Robin didn't get to answer, for a loud thud suddenly sounded from in front of them. Nami had appeared and had punched both of them to the ground as always. She began to growl at them too. As always. Once she had finished scolding them, she looked up and waved slightly at Tashigi. Surprised, Tashigi waved back. She yelled something at Zoro, all but throwing him at Tashigi.

Zoro looked down at her with a sheepish facial expression. Robin strolled over to Nami, whispering something into her ear. They shared a giggle, and Zoro turned around to glare at them. He turned back around and pointed to something located behind Tashigi. She turned around and noticed a drawbridge sort of thing connecting the ship to the dock.

"Ah, of course," she muttered. She walked towards the bridge, not noticing Nami motioning frantically to Zoro. He refrained from yelling at her, turning around to heed her orders.

Zoro followed Tashigi, grumbling to himself. He could just feel Nami and Sanji's teasing smiles towards him. They reached the dock, and Tashigi was stopped by Zoro.

"Here," he said holding out her katana and denden mushi. Tashigi looked up at him. The moon illuminated his green hair, and Tashigi was reminded of their encounter at Dressrosa. It was quite the pretty color, if she was to be honest. She felt a sudden longing to touch it.

Realizing what she was thinking and also the fact that she was staring, Tashigi forced herself to stop. She took the katana and denden mushi, their fingers brushing against one another's. Zoro felt something clench in his chest at the subtle contact, so he quickly removed his hands and stepped back. Tashigi put the denden mushi in her pocket, and held her katana with both hands. She swallowed, and then looked back up at Zoro.

"Um, thank you. For bringing me to Chopper-san and all," she said. He nodded, at a loss of what to say.

She then bowed quickly, turned around, and walked away.

Zoro watched her walk. He kept watching her until she disappeared from his line of sight. He ran a hand through his hair, sighing deeply. He _was_ going insane, no doubt about it now.

He turned around and walked back up to the ship. When he arrived, he was immediately hit with what felt like a wave of teasing remarks from Sanji.

"Wow, I was surprised you didn't just declare your love right then and there," was the last one. Zoro chucked a katana at him, but he didn't say anything. He couldn't help but feel like he was slowly losing the ability to prove Sanji's remarks wrong.

* * *

 **Geez that was long. I hope you enjoyed it though!**

 **Summer vacation began a week ago for me, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to upload more quickly now. So stay tuned!**

 **Oh and btw. I got the idea to have Tashigi be on vacation and the words on her shirt from a Tumblr post by the lovely asktashigi! Her account brings me actual life.**

 **I'd put the link here but this is ff so...**

 **Just be sure to check out her account cause it's seriously so great.**

 **Replying to comments time!**

 **BlueBoltKatana- Lollll your comment(s) made me laugh a lot. I wish that this was all canon smh. I'm happy you enjoyed!**

 **Laludofan- Aw I'm glad I made you laugh. Robin actually was the one to explain to the crew who this supposed crush of Zoro was (If that wasn't obvious in the story oops maybe I should've explained further lol) so she def got involved xD Thanks for reading!**

 **Guest- I'm glad that it was in character! Thank you very much for reading and your compliments 33**


	11. Back to Normal (or not)

**WOw okay it's only been half a year. I'd say I'm sorry, which I really am, but that wouldn't be even remotely enough to make up for the delay. Sorry anyways ;(**

 **I hope you enjoy! (Pls ignore the cliche-ness of a lot of this) (Actually don't worry about it, you can totally cringe cuz I hate me too)**

* * *

Zoro found that once he hadn't seen Tashigi for about a month, she was slowly starting to slip from his mind. Or at least things were going back to normal. Normal as in he would only think about her when passing by katana shops or whenever they spotted a marine ship. That was how it was after Punk Hazard but before Dressrosa anyways. In other words, still not entirely normal.

But it was better than when she wouldn't leave his mind for hours each day, no matter how hard he tried to get rid of the thought of her. He still felt crazy, but maybe just a little less crazy.

As time went on, his nakama had slowly stopped teasing him. Soon, the month without seeing the copycat captain was over. By that time, Sanji had run out of the surplus of meat they had on their ship, needed to satisfy their captain. Which meant it was supply stop day. Zoro disliked supply stop days. He disliked them mostly because no matter what island they would land on, Luffy would find some way to stir up some kind of trouble, and he'd have his peaceful day shattered. Which is why he scowled when Nami announced that there was an island ahead.

The crew reached the dock of the island, greeted with a very quaint looking town. Zoro, not wanting to involve himself in whatever event Luffy was planning on causing, plopped himself down on the grass of the deck and went to sleep. Only Franky stayed behind as well, not trusting Zoro to protect the Sunny on his own.

A little while later, Zoro woke up to the sound of some muffled shouting from Franky and then to the feeling of wind being rapidly blown into his face. And then the sound of a loud splash of water. He finally opened his eyes, only to see that they were in a completely different location than they were before. He stood up and went to find Franky.

Franky was up at the helm, controlling the sunny now with the wheel.

"What was that?" Zoro asked.

"Oh, Zoro. I noticed some Marine ships coming off in the distance, and had to quickly move us out of view."

Zoro grunted in annoyance. Not the Marines again.

As he turned around and walked down to the deck, a certain someone popped up in his mind.

Zoro scowled immediately, closing his eyes and rubbing his temple.

Why was she always the first person to pop up in his mind when the word "Marine" was said to him?

It's not like she was on that ship.

There's no way they would meet again.

And he was happy that there was no way.

He didn't want to see that woman ever again.

Clearly.

Zoro sat down in the same place he had been sitting before. He tried to go to sleep. Emphasis on the tried part. But no matter how hard he tried, he was undoubtedly restless at the thought of that stupid glasses copycat again. Zoro let out a loud growl of frustration and stood up. He stomped over to the edge of the ship and traveled down to the ground via a ladder.

"Oi, Zoro! Where are you going?" Franky yelled.

Zoro didn't give him an answer, only a lazy wave without turning around. He'd go on a walk and clear his mind. People did that, right?

However 20 minutes or so passed, and, to his complete annoyance, Zoro found himself in the middle of the woods with absolutely no idea where he was.

Goddamnit. Not again.

He chopped down some trees on his right in frustration, then started his irritated walk once again.

Tashigi felt inexplicably drained.

Her unit had been told to report to some random and alarmingly small island which was right near a marine base for some kind of meeting. These meetings happened way too often and they were always forced to listen to the same speeches. Tashigi respected the content of the speeches, but the repetition was getting a bit annoying after 2 years of it.

Her ship landed on the island after a few days of sailing. Once the ship came to stop, she called her unit to the deck. Together, they walked down from the ship and into the island.

Once the meeting was over and most of the captains and their crews were gone, Tashigi and her unit made their way back down through the town towards her ship.. It was a peaceful walk. The town was very quiet, small, but also very pretty. The people seemed to be particularly fond of flowers, since they decorated basically every inch of the place. She was happily enjoying the scenery until a large crash sounded from the opposite side of the town. Tashigi stopped in confusion.

"What was that?" She asked. Her men shrugged at her. They continued to walk when one of her men received a call. He ended the call and then shouted "Captain! The Straw Hats have been sighted on the opposite side of town!"

Tashigi paled a bit immediately. The Straw Hats? Zoro's face flooded her mind and she shook her head rapidly. Not this again.

She lifted her head after a bit and gave a nod to her men.

"Let us go find them then!" She said.

"Yes, ma'am!" Came the reply.

Her men split up into groups and ran off, with Tashigi trailing close behind them. She turned her head frequently, looking into alleyways and into each corner. Suddenly, she heard the shouts of multiple men coming from one of the alleyways. She stopped and turned, running towards the sound. There she saw many soldiers on the ground, unconscious and injured. She lifted her katana, paying close attention to her surroundings.

Her ears perked up when she heard a small shift behind her. She turned around immediately, lifting her katana to block the blow of the two swinging down from above. Her mouth opened a bit as she gaped at her attacker. Roronoa Zoro.

Why was it _always_ him?

Zoro seemed a bit taken aback as well, but his expression quickly changed, a sly smirk spreading across his face.

"Oh, if it isn't captain-chan," he teased. Tashigi scowled.

"That's not something for you to call me," she replied. Zoro grinned.

"No?"

"No."

"Pity."

With that, their katanas began to fly at each other once again. The loud sound of the clashing swords filled the area.

The fight didn't last as long as Tashigi wanted it to, although it did last longer than their previous clashes. She was immediately reminded of Loguetown once Zoro flung her katana out of her hand. It landed a small distance away from them, the tip stuck into the ground. Zoro and Tashigi stood at an uncomfortably close proximity, the blunt side of his katana against her neck. Zoro's jaw stiffened at the sudden impulse to wipe away the bead of sweat sliding down the side of Tashigi's face. He quickly stood back and sheathed his katana. Tashigi watched him, crossing her arms. She sighed.

"How humiliating," she mumbled, looking away.

Zoro shrugged.

"You've improved," he said. Tashigi looked back at him.

"So have you."

Silence.

Awkward silence, to be exact.

Zoro was about to say something when Tashigi received a call on her den den mushi.

"Captain, the Straw Hats have escaped somehow. There are no sign of them," one of her men told her. Tashigi looked up at Zoro. Zoro simply stared back.

"I see," she said. Zoro looked away, running a hand through his hair.

"I'll meet you all at the ship soon," she continued.

"Yes ma'am," her crew member replied.

She hung up the call, and glanced up at Zoro again. Zoro walked over and pulled her katana out of the ground. He handed it to her. She took and then sheathed it. She then bowed and turned to walk away, with Zoro staring at her quite intensely the entire time. Before she could walk away, Zoro suddenly stepped in front of her.

"What are you doing?" She asked, looking up at him. Zoro didn't say anything, too focused on and annoyed at the amount of confusing emotions rushing through him.

"Excuse me," Tashigi said, attempting to walk past him. Right after she managed to do so, however, Zoro suddenly asked a question that made her stop in her tracks.

"Why didn't you tell them?"

Tashigi turned around. It was silent for a moment, as Zoro stared at her, waiting for an answer, and she stared back, trying to think of one.

"I don't know."

Zoro let out a sigh as he hung his head, eyes locked onto the ground. A full minute passed until he finally lifted his head. He then began to walk towards Tashigi, his arms crossed. She panicked a bit, stepping back. She didn't get to go far, since her back soon hit a wall. Zoro stopped walking only when he was close enough to put his arm on the wall behind her. Now Tashigi was really panicking. She swallowed at their close proximity, but said nothing. He was watching her with an expression that Tashigi couldn't decipher.

"Do you even know how irritating you are?" He asked, his voice low to the point that it was almost a whisper. Tashigi blinked at him. It was suddenly _really_ hard to find words to say.

"I could ask you the same question," she finally replied. An extended moment of silence ensued. Too long. Tashigi's hands were starting to get clammy and shaky and all she wanted to do was shut her eyes and will the entire day to have been a dream, which wasn't really an option.

The fact that she wasn't dreaming became painfully obvious when Zoro began to lean in, and her heart started to beat alarmingly fast. She kept her eyes wide open and locked with his until he reached the mere distance of a few centimeters. She hadn't realized that she had been holding her breath until it was let out in the smallest of gasps. She squeezed her eyes shut. If she was even close to being sane enough at the moment to remember that she was a _marine_ and he was a _pirate,_ she would have definitely stopped him. At least she hoped so. Instead, all she found herself doing was standing and waiting with a thumping heart.

However, instead of feeling what would have likely been the most regrettable moment of her life, she heard the sound of a fast speed projectile flying closer by the millisecond. She then felt Zoro press her tightly against the wall with his body in one swift and sudden motion. Her eyes flew open. She heard Zoro wince and make a small strangled grunting noise. Tashigi felt his hot breath on her neck as he began to breath a bit more heavily.

"Um, Roronoa?" she asked quietly.

"Someone's here," he said as he backed away from her. Tashigi's eyes widened when she saw the arrow stuck in Zoro's shoulder. Resisting the urge to move her hand towards the wound, she quickly pulled out her katana. Zoro pulled the arrow out of his arm without hesitation and waited.

Suddenly, a large wave of arrows flew towards them and Zoro immediately grabbed Tashigi, pulling her behind a wall. One of the arrows grazed Tashigi's leg, leaving a shallow but long horizontal cut. She winced, and Zoro glanced at her.

"Oi are y-"

Tashigi cut him off, not hearing his words.

"Who?" She asked in a whisper.

Zoro shut his mouth and then shook his head.

"How the hell would I know?" He asked back. They heard a few thuds and footsteps. Zoro stepped out from his hiding place and faced the people approaching him. It was a group of pirates, probably those of lower "rank" than him. The one in the middle began to laugh maliciously.

"Roronoa Zoro! Today marks the day of your defeat!" He shouted. Zoro rolled his eyes.

Not this again.

"Boys!" The man yelled. A flood of pirates came flying in from all around Zoro. Tashigi watched as Zoro whipped out his katanas at lightning speed, the glint in his eyes turning murderous just as quickly. "100 POUND CANON!" He yelled.

Tashigi gaped in amazement as men went flying everywhere, yelling in pain. Zoro was getting ready to unleash another attack, when the leader of the group began to attack from behind him.

"Soru."

Tashigi vanished from her spot in the alleyway and appeared right in front of the man swinging his large sword down on Zoro, blocking his attack. Zoro glanced at Tashigi, then smirked. He turned back around and went back to attacking the large group of pirates in front of him.

"Eh? Who's this beauty?" The man asked, grinning devilishly. Tashigi glared at him.

"How disgraceful," she replied, as she swung her katana out from under his and attacked. The man tried to fend her off in his surprise. Another pirate came flying in from her side, but Zoro popped up and sent him flying.

"Thanks," Tashigi said, her eyes still on her target. Zoro smirked.

"Back at you."

It wasn't so bad having her as a fighting partner rather than an enemy, he realized.

* * *

 **Yeah, if you haven't noticed, I really can't write action scenes so I just choose to avoid them haha oops. Sorry fam, if you came here looking for action, you might wanna just give up now, there won't be any.**

 **Tysm for reading! Pls leave me feedback or whatever you'd like to say to me, I appreciate everything :)**


	12. I Just Might Be

**IM BACCCCCC**

 **with another stereotypical cheesy romance chapter that is**

 **I really hope you enjoy it and pls don't forget to leave a comment and follow/favorite, all that stuffs ;)**

* * *

Tashigi and Zoro stood back to back, panting. Hundreds of men lay on the ground around them. Zoro looked around. The area was silent. Looks like they were safe. For now, anyways. Zoro slid his katanas back into their hilts. He turned around, watching as Tashigi did the same. Before she could object, Zoro grabbed her hand and began walking her away from the area. Tashigi stared at their hands, then looked up at him.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Taking us away from this place," he replied.

Tashigi fell into silence. After a moment, she looked around, and then sighed.

"Zoro."

Zoro almost stopped in his tracks. _Zoro?_

"What?"

"We're back to where we came from."

Zoro stopped for real. He looked around, then cursed. Tashigi couldn't help but chuckle quietly. Zoro glanced at her, scowling.

"Are you making fun of me?"

Tashigi looked up at him, grinning. Zoro felt an uncomfortable feeling stir in his chest, so he looked away.

"Maybe," she replied. She stepped in front of him and began to walk, leading him this time. Her hand was still clasped around his. Zoro found himself being the one to stare at their hands. He didn't realize exactly what he was doing when he grabbed her hand earlier, but now that it was her who was leading him, he was suddenly very aware. He began to grumble to himself, causing Tashigi to smile slightly. She turned around to look at him, only to be reminded of his wound from earlier. The arrow had shot into the side of his shoulder, causing a deep gash and a serious amount of stopped. She looked around, then let go of Zoro's hand.

"Wait here, and don't move," she said. Zoro crossed his arms, sitting down as he watched her walk off somewhere.

Tashigi returned a few minutes later, holding a paper bag. She took out a bandage and a couple of gauze pads. She was about to kneel down when she suddenly felt rain droplets sliding down her face. (A/N hahahhaah such stereotypical writing hahahhahaah don't worry I hate me too).

"Eh?" Tashigi said as she turned around, looking up at the sky. The gray sky had turned into a deeper, darker gray shade, and rain was pouring down increasingly heavier with each second. Tashigi gave an exasperated look to the sky. _Of all moments._

Zoro stood up and looked around. He spotted what looked like some kind of abandoned store and grabbed Tashigi's arm, dragging her towards it. She let out a yelp of surprise but followed him, not wanting to stay in the pouring rain for much longer. They reached the store, but not after becoming completely drenched in rain water. Zoro plopped down onto the ground, shaking water out of his face. Tashigi reluctantly knelt down a few feet away from him, taking off her glasses to wipe the water droplets off of them. She put them back on after cleaning them and turned to Zoro. He was looking out the empty slot which was supposed to be a window, his chin propped up on his palm. Tashigi's eyes wandered to his shoulder, and she suddenly remembered what she had intended to do earlier. She stood up and took her handkerchief out of her pocket, Zoro's gaze shifting to her. She walked over to the open slot in the wall and held the fabric out to the rain. Once it was drenched in rain water, she walked back in and knelt right next to Zoro. She began to gently pat his wound with the wet cloth. Zoro watched her, removing the palm holding up his chin. Once Tashigi was satisfied she had cleaned the blood off of the wound, she reached over and took out the gauze and bandage. She placed a gauze pad on his wound and then began to wrap the bandage tightly around his shoulder area. Zoro's eye stayed glued to Tashigi's face. He was getting a weird sense of deja vu.

Tashigi finished wrapping his shoulder, her fingers lingering a bit. She lifted her gaze, and the two stared at each other for a few seconds before Tashigi removed her hand and turned away. She gripped the coat fabric under her hand. Zoro leaned back on his hands, looking up at the ceiling. The silence was making him fidgety. He glanced over at Tashigi, who was doing everything in her power to avoid looking at him. Zoro decided that he couldn't stand the silence for any longer.

"Doesn't it piss you off?" He asked. Tashigi's head snapped up and she looked at him.

"Eh?"

Zoro paused before continuing, gluing his eyes back onto the ceiling.

"To keep running into me like this," he finished.

Tashigi stared, clearly taken aback.

She blurted her answer out before she could stop herself.

"Not exactly."

Another silence.

Zoro had straightened his body, his hands now in his lap. He looked at her with a blank expression. He then asked the question Tashigi had been avoiding for the longest time now.

"Why?"

Tashigi stared into his eyes, unable to speak for a moment.

"I…." She began. Her voice faded, however, and she never finished her answer. Zoro opened his mouth to say something when the sound of a den den mushi cut through the silence like a knife. Tashigi jumped, then fumbled around her coat until she reached the device. She pulled it out.

"H-hello?" she asked.

"Captain-chan!"

"Yes?"

"Where are you? Smoker-san is looking for you!"

"Is that so? I'll be right there, just tell me your location."

As the answer came from the den den mushi, Tashigi stood up.

"I understand. I'll be right there," she finished, ending the call. She turned awkwardly to Zoro and bowed.

"I'll take my leave then, Roronoa," she said. Zoro simply stared. She turned around and then walked towards the opening to leave. It was right before she stepped out into the pattering rain when Zoro stood up, walked over, and grabbed her wrist. He then spun her around and grabbed her gently by the shoulders.

"Don't leave…. yet," Zoro said hesitantly. He had little idea to what he was doing, but he also had little idea on how to stop himself.

"Wh-why not?" Tashigi managed to stutter.

"Because I need an answer" Zoro replied.

Tashigi felt her throat clog up as she recalled their conversation only a moment ago.

"An answer to what?" She asked, although she already knew the answer to her own question.

"...Why doesn't it bother you to keep running into me?"

Tashigi gulped. Her mind felt a bit blank.

"Th-that would be because…" her voice trailed off.

A very, very long silence ensued. Tashigi stared at Zoro, and Zoro at Tashigi.

Tashigi's mind was racing. She felt inexplicably unstable on the inside. It was as if something was trying to lift itself off of her chest, and she was, for some reason, trying her best to stop it in some kind of inward battle.

The moment passed; she lost the battle. The something sprung free.

"I think I might be in love with you."

* * *

 **ok so maybe this was a little fast but hi im impatient and breathe through cheesy romance fics so oops sorry**


	13. You're a Pirate, I'm a Marine

Zoro blinked a few times. Tashigi blinked a few times.

"...What?" Zoro asked.

"What?" Tashigi returned.

"Did you just"

"No"

"Yes you did."

"No I most absolutely did not."

"You-"

Zoro stopped, an extremely prevalent shade of red flooding his face. His hands faltered, and he took them off of her shoulders. He covered his face with one hand, looking at the ground.

"You can't just _say_ that," he said, exasperated.

Tashigi blinked a few times again.

Suddenly, her facial expression switched into a look of realization. She began to stutter rapidly, now blushing uncontrollably as well.

"I-I-I-I-"

She looked at the ground, inwardly panicking.

"I-I'm sorry," she managed to get out. Zoro mustered up the strength to glance at her. He then looked out the window.

"...You say that too often," he muttered quietly. Tashigi lifted her head to look at him. Sensing her eyes on him, he began to speak.

"I thought you hated me."

Tashigi stared, then let out a small sigh.

"I thought I hated you too," she replied.

Zoro looked back at her.

"Aren't you supposed to hate me?" He asked.

Tashigi flinched and looked down at her hands.

"Of course I am," she said.

Silence once again.

"But," Tashigi paused. "You make it hard to," she mumbled, looking back up at him.

Zoro's breath hitched a little, and he gulped..

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked, taking a slight step towards her for who knows what reason. He immediately regretted doing so; it only lessened the distance between them, thus making him feel even more uncomfortable. He crossed his arms to pretend like he wasn't fazed.

"...I don't know," Tashigi replied quietly, shifting her eyes up to meet Zoro's gaze.

Tashigi was undoubtedly glad that it was pouring then. She was afraid that if it wasn't, Zoro would've been able to hear her heartbeat in the deathly silence.

But the silence and the extended eye contact only caused her mind to wander. She broke the lock between their gazes and let her eyes fall, sweep back up, and then meet Zoro's once again. Suddenly, she was seeing not Zoro, but a pirate with a bounty large enough to feed a family for years. She was dragged back into the hands of reality and all too aware of how far she had let herself stray from the path of her moral codes. She wondered later if Zoro had seen the change in her eyes.

"Of course I am," she blurted. "You're a pirate."

Zoro gave her a confused look.

"Uh, yea-"

"I'm a marine."

Zoro exhaled through his nose, seeing where she was going.

"So I've been told."

"This is wrong."

Zoro rolled his eyes.

"Who says?" He asked, muttering "not that I even know what 'this' is" under his breath.

Tashigi either ignored the second part or let it go in through one ear and out the other.

"I say. It is unbelievable how many times I have just let you go, not to mention the amount of interactions we have had in the process. I should be apprehending you right at this moment, going back to the marine base, confiscating your katanas for marine use, and putting you in jail for life. This is ridiculous, I think that pirates are foul and irresponsible and barbaric and heartless and it is my job and duty to rid this world of those who do nothing but abuse power and take from others."

Zoro watched her throughout her mini rant, wearing an indecipherable facial expression. Tashigi had been speaking at a mile a minute, and was now filling the silence with her heavy breathing. Her eyes had not lost the fire in them, however they also showed a look of questioning, as if she was demanding Zoro to tell her why she had let herself do all this. Zoro crossed his arms, and frowned. Tashigi waited for him to say something, anything, that would either fully bring her back to reality or pull her away from it forever.

He seemed to choose the latter, only he didn't give her a verbal answer. He instead successfully replaced both emotions reflected in her eyes with complete surprise as he lifted a hand, lightly gripped her chin, tilted her head up, and kissed her.

The kiss only lasted for a second before he pulled away and asked "Are you bipolar or something?"

Tashigi could do nothing but stare back at him, her tongue utterly tied. Zoro smirked, winding his free arm around her waist.

And when he kissed her again, Tashigi felt all the apprehension in her dissipate into nothing.

* * *

 **ok so i could've just merged these two chapters but i felt that it just hAd to end on that line for the last chapter cause otherwise it wasn't as dramatic**

 **this was also pretty fast but leave me alone i needed this ok**

 **also whoops i think i made Zoro too flirty**

 **flirty!Zoro ?**

 **oh and I've updated the chapter names cause i thought mine were too boring (yes i referenced twenty one pilots sue me). Lemme know what you guys think!**


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